China clears Alibaba's Qwen models to power Apple Intelligence

China's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology has approved Alibaba's Tongyi Qianwen models to power Apple Intelligence on the Chinese mainland, according to the South China Morning Post. The clearance arrives days before the iPhone Duo launches in China with the redesigned Siri as a flagship feature. For Apple, the approval ends a near two-year wait to ship its AI system in one of its fastest-growing markets.

What exactly was approved?

The ministry cleared two Alibaba products, per the SCMP report. The first is Tongyi Qianwen, the family of large language models (systems trained on vast text datasets to generate and interpret language) better known as Qwen. The second is Tongyi Wanxiang, Alibaba's AI-generated image and video tool.

Both will underpin Apple Intelligence on devices Apple sells to Chinese customers. The scope is broad: reports this summer confirmed Qwen would be central to Apple Intelligence on compatible iPhone, iPad, Mac and Vision Pro models in China.

Apple already held clearance to roll out Apple Intelligence on the mainland, which it received in July. It simply had not acted on it. The updated filings now include network access permits for the iPhone Duo and iPhone 18 Pro. The iPhone Duo launches in China next week.

The takeaway: Apple now has both the hardware permits and a locally approved AI stack, removing the last regulatory obstacles to launch.

Why did Apple need Alibaba at all?

Apple Intelligence launched in the US nearly two years ago. It never reached the mainland. Much of its feature set is already available in Hong Kong, but mainland China's AI and privacy regulations demanded a different approach — and a local partner.

In the US, Apple built Apple Intelligence with help from Google and OpenAI, using them to train models and hand off complex user queries. That arrangement does not satisfy Chinese regulators. Reports that Apple would work with Chinese AI firms as a workaround first surfaced in early 2025, and Alibaba was named then. The pairing is now confirmed and cleared.

The takeaway: Alibaba replaces Google and OpenAI as the AI backbone for Apple's Chinese devices, because US partners cannot pass Chinese regulatory review.

Why the timing matters

The approval lands almost exactly two years after Apple Intelligence debuted in the US — a long gap for what has become a core product feature. Apple's patience reflects the market at stake: China remains one of the company's fastest-growing markets, and shipping iPhones there without the flagship Siri feature would put the Duo at a competitive disadvantage from day one.

One caveat deserves note. The approval report comes from the South China Morning Post, which is owned by the Alibaba Group — the direct beneficiary of the clearance. The report is plausible and consistent with prior filings, but the source's ownership is a fact a careful reader should weigh.

The takeaway: Apple secures its AI story for a major launch window, though the announcement arrives via a paper owned by the winning vendor.

What happens next

The iPhone Duo arrives in China next week with the new, improved Siri positioned as a headline software capability. Apple Intelligence should follow for supported devices on the mainland, closing the two-year gap with the US rollout.

For Alibaba, the deal makes Qwen the AI engine inside every Apple device sold in China — a distribution win few Chinese AI firms can claim. Whether Apple Intelligence's Chinese rollout matches the US feature set in practice, or arrives trimmed by further compliance requirements, will only become clear once the first mainland users test it.